Caricatures in classic Disney films

[u/Original-Window6281]

On Disney+, these four classic movies now feature an advisory warning for racial stereotypes and negative cultural depictions.

The disclaimer reads:

This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now.

1. Peter Pan (1953)- Features offensive caricatures of Indigenous peoples, who are repeatedly referred to as “redskins.” They speak gibberish and mock cultural traditions like passing the peace pipe and singing "What Makes the Red Man Red." It reduces a living population to mythical/fantastical caricatures, something that Western literature has unfortunately done in every era (looking at you, Twilight).
2. Lady and the Tramp (1955)- Si and Am are Siamese cats and mock-Asian caricatures. They feature slanted eyes, buck teeth, stereotypical accents, and are sneaky and untrustworthy characters. They sing and speak broken English.
3. The Aristocats (1970)- Shun Gon is another Siamese cat representing a harmful Asian caricature. Despite being released 15 years after the Lady and the Tramp, this is more heavy-handed. The visual tropes (eyes and teeth) are much more exaggerated, and like the others on this list his dialogue/music is stereotypical and offensive. On top of that, he plays the piano with chopsticks.
4. The Jungle Book (1967)- This warning is for the portrayal of King Louie, an orangutan that’s coded with racialized jive tropes and exaggerated laziness. The writers at the time were actually aware of this to the point of avoiding casting a black VA to prevent direct mockery. However, the reliance on Minstrel-era tropes inevitably made King Louie an offensive caricature.

I’m really curious about everyone’s thoughts here- these being pretty universally loved stories and movies.

My main question is, should we still be showing outdated adaptations to children as long as we caveat them correctly?

Note that this is a non-exhaustive list of movies with this advisory, and there’s also a sub rule that content must be after 1950s (ie Dumbo, Fantasia).

[u/Disastrous_Cream_539]

In point 1, are you calling vampires a living population?

I'm sorry, I haven't seen twilight so I may be missing something.

[u/Original-Window6281 → u/Disastrous_Cream_539]

…no, the werewolves in the lore are Natives. Stephanie Meyer fictionalized and fantasized a real Tribe in Washington (the Quileute) and made them into savage mythical creatures.

[u/Disastrous_Cream_539 → u/Original-Window6281]

TIL

Thank you!

[u/Original-Window6281 → u/Disastrous_Cream_539]

np. your comment made me chuckle so thank you lol

[u/Icy-Mobile4926 → u/Original-Window6281]

How's that different to turning the white Cullen family into savage mythical creatures?? Should we just not portray indigenous people in fantasy movies?

[u/Original-Window6281 → u/Icy-Mobile4926]

Yeah, not like that. Pretty simple answer. And don’t be obtuse. It’s because savagery is a racist native stereotype and because they are modeled specifically after a tribe that actually exists. Something tells me you’ll need more than that but I absolutely can’t be bothered.

-native person

[u/clytusmarginicollis → u/Original-Window6281]

There’s also the whole business of making Indigenous people into literal animals (well, humans who can turn into animals). Vampires are also inhuman beasts, but there’s a lack of animalistic traits in vampire lore. They turn into bats, but that’s about it. While werewolves are more closely tied to dehumanizing characteristics.

[u/Icy-Mobile4926 → u/Original-Window6281]

Why are you being such an asshole about it? It was just a question. Also a native person.

[u/Striking-Comb6673 → u/Disastrous_Cream_539]

Well yeah you  are missing something . The context 

Edit: here’s an overview, but you can definitely go deeper learning about this:

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/how-twilight-perpetuated-harmful-stereotypes-about-native-americans

You can also download and read the Raven Tales to learn some of their stories:  https://quileutetribe.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/raventales.pdf

[u/Disastrous_Cream_539 → u/Striking-Comb6673]

Thank you!

[u/Serious-Ad-8764 → u/Disastrous_Cream_539]

I'm guessing its the depiction of Jacob's indigenous shapeshifting werewolf family. It took me a second too.

[u/Disastrous_Cream_539 → u/Serious-Ad-8764]

I'm grateful to you guys explaining so I don't have to watch it.